Читать книгу Your 168 - Harry M. Kraemer Jr. - Страница 14

Whenever I talk about life balance, most people are very intrigued. They ask whether it is really even possible to be self-reflective in the crazy, nonstop world in which we live. I always tell people that a large part of the problem is that most of us are attempting to do three to four times the number of things that is humanly possible. We tell ourselves we'll “make time” as if we can somehow manufacture more hours in the day or week. (Sorry, but there are only 168 hours in the week for everybody.) We want to be conscientious and get as much done as possible, so we tell ourselves we'll just go faster. What other choice is there given all we have to do? So that brings us to our old friend, multitasking. We convince ourselves that if we can do two (or more) things at the same time, we'll get twice as many (or more) things done!

Our smartphones and other devices are supposed to make us more productive. We're connected all the time and everywhere. But it's getting out of control. It's one thing to do a call while you're driving, but quite another to do email and texts at red lights—or when traffic slows to a crawl. You'll soon drive yourself crazy, not to mention potentially become a hazard on the road.

At some point, you have to ask yourself: are you really more productive or just more active? Have you confused activity for productivity? If you're moving so fast, however, you won't have any idea how productive you are—and you'll just keep moving.

That's when you need to take some time, step back, and self-reflect. What are you spending your time on? How does that match with what you say is most important in your life? That's the only way to cut through the activity and get to productivity so you can pursue a balanced life. If you want life balance, you need self-reflection.